Paper unit dispensing device



April 2, 1940. STElNER 2,195,603

PAPER UNIT DISPENSING DEVICE Original Filed Sept. 16, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ap 2, 1940.- F. s. STEINER PAPER UNIT msr'sns me DEVICE Original Filed Sept. 16. 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet is l Patented Apr. 2 1940 PAPER UNIT DISPENSIN G DEVICE Frank G. Steiner, Chicago, 111., assignor to Steiner 1 Sales Company, Salt Lake poration of Utah a City, Utah, a cor- Original application septemberlfi, 1935,Serial v No. 40,794. Divided and this application July 29,1938, Serial No. 221,944

4 Claims. icl. 242-555) This invention relates generally to improvements in dispensing cabinets and particularly adapted for dispensing paper drying units.

This application is divisional of my appli-- cation Serial No. 40,794, filed September 16, 1935 for Paper unit dispensing device.

An important object of. the invention'is to utilize the curl of the paper resultant from its original r011 formation, for maintaining a projected portion of the paper spaced from the wall of the cabinet to facilitate grasping.-

Features of the inventioninclude: a dispens ing cabinet in which the paper is heldspaced in an accessible position as a result of the natural curling tendency of the roll; the utilization of this curling tendency in conjunction with the guiding means for holding the paper in accessible position; means for causing the paper to be delivered in an-outstanding and easily accessible position for grasping and spaced from and op- In my application 40,794, of which this appli cation is a division, claim is made to allretails f of construction including broader ideas of means relating to theseparation of the paper by down ward pull. I v v i I Objects, features, and advantages of the invention willbeset forth in the description of the drawings forming a part of this application; and in said drawings Figure l is a vertical transverse section, taken? on line I-l of Figure 2, with the dryingunit length positioned to be easily grasped and easily severed or separated by a downpull; v Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken approximately on line 22 of Figure l, with."

the timer positioned asbefore setting;. and

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken-approximately on line 33 of Figure 2, with the timer positioned as before setting.

The drawings herein illustrate in addition to the features broadly claimed herein, certain details of construction which] also appear-in application Serial No; 40,794,,these details having been included for the sake of clarity.

In the drawings,- numeral] generally indicates the outer casing of a cabinet, having .a front door 2 hinged at the bottom as at 3 and thus adapted to swing downwardlyx' The cabinet has a delivery. I orifice 4 adjacent its top. 'IThelou're'r side of this orifice is formed by the upper door 2.

A vertically disposed plate l {l is spaced inward- Rotatably j'ournaled in the plate to and in the opposite side wall l5 of the cabinet is the'shaftv l6 of a feed roll I! I provided at intervals throughout its length with friction-feeding rings l8 of suitable material, and larger in diameter than the roll so as topro-ject circumferentially-therebeyond.

The topcwall of the cabinet Ihas a forwardly and outwardly directed down-turned portion 2!, the lower edge of which is received by a' socket formed in part by a forward rebent portion 22 of a sheet-directmg guide." This guide has an arched top portion 23 and a skirt portion 24 extending downwardly in front. of the feed roll I! and lying close to the roll, and having slotsor cut-outs 25 forwardly through which the rings 18 extend, as bestshown in Figure .l'. t

' Cooperativewith the feed roll it is a presser slots 29 respectively of the plate it and bracket 30,.the bracket 3c being secured to the cabinet 30- 'roll 21 havinga shaft 28 journaled inopen end I wallltl, as bestshown in. Figure 3. This 'roll 2"!- is yieldably urged toward the feedroll' H and rings I8, by springs 32 acting on the ends of the cated .36 composed of suitably bent and connected plates. This support is supported by hangers or edge s or: the

sition for grasping and spaced from and disposed to the front of the cabinet is in part or entirely" accomplished by taking advantage of the curl of the paper resultant from its original roll formation.

It will be noted by inspection of Figure 1 that the paper comes off of the forward side of the supply roll and that it passes upwardly to the feed rolls. The paper does not contact either roll over any substantial surface area thereof thereof, the curling tendency is not destroyed and curl is utilized to maintain the projected portion spaced away from the cabinet to facili-- tate grasping. Of course, the guiding means 23 can alone form the means for causing the paper to be initially directed downwardly and outwardly, but the curling tendency of the paper is utilized to assure that the paper will remain in such an accessible position for grasping.

It is again noted that there is substantially only a line contact between the paper and the rolls. In any event the degree of surface con-' tact is not sufficient to eliminate the curl during passage through the rolls, whereby the forward edge of the freed paper hugs the guide 23 and is guided (in the drawings) first upwardly and then downwardly and outwardly. The curl of the paper causes the forward edge to always hug and ride along the means 23 so that when projected below the upper side of the opening 4, it

is pendent and swings outwardly away from the front faceof the cabinet. It is evident that the curl will cause this action, providing it is projected downwardly through the orifice. Thus although the guide 23 and its specific location is claimed per se the scheme of preventing destruction of the curl and utilizing the curl and the placing of the parts to obtain" curlin the right direction is broadly claimed.

The bend portion of the part 22 of the guide apron forms the upper side of the delivery open-. ing and the upper edge of the door forms the lowerside of this delivery opening. This. upper .edge of the door is suitably rounded to reduce friction.-

To prevent operation of the feed roll in the wrong direction (see dotted lines of Figure 1), a ratchet wheel 50 is provided and placed at one end of the roll and with this ratchet wheel is engaged a pawl 5|, see also Figure 3.

Means is also provided for feeding a predetermined amount or length of toweling and pre--, venting feed for a predetermined time period following each feeding operation. Referring to Figures 2 and 3: A stop arm 60 is fixed to the shaft H5 at a point between the plate l0 and the.

wall I I of the cabinet. This arm acts as a rotative stop and is associated with a sliding stop having the form of a plate 6| suitably slidably operably guided in slot 62 of plate Ill. The two stops are connected by a link 63 having a slot 64 through which passes a pin 65 thus slidably and pivotally securing the link to the stop arm 60. The other end of the link is pivotally secured to the plate BI and in this instance is 'held by a split key 61.

When the roll I! is rotated in direction of the arrow shown in Figure 3, the arm also moves in that direction and after its lower end has passed to the right of the upper end of the slide stop 61 this stop is raised by means of the link, and

. after one complete rotation of the roll the parts assume a position in which the plate 6! prevents further rotation of the feed roll, as a result of the end of the arm 60 hitting the plate.

The plate is held in stop position afterbeing brought there by the link, in this case by a timer no to be described. A

The timer is set as the stop plate 5| is moved upwardly from its position in Figure 3. The timer then allows only a slow down motion of the plate 6!. The plate 6| of the stop mechanism controls the timer and bothare controlled by, and in turn control, the feed roll. For this purpose, the lower end of the plate 5! is bent laterally as at 69 and is operably engaged with a grooved head 10 of the timer stem H of a dashpot type of timer. The barrel of the timer'is indicated at 12, this barrel being suitably held by a bracket 13 to the outer side of the plate It). This type of timer is well known in the art and no further description of it seems necessary. Herein it is merely a symbol of timing means in the general combination.

The stem II when pulled upwardly and then released, moves downwardly by gravity to assume, atthe end of the time period, the position shown in Figure 3, thus moving the element 6| from the path of the element 60 to allow another feeding-out operation of the feeding mechanism.

Operation .Referring toFigures l and 3,-and assuming the upper end of the paper to be in the position shown in Figure 3: The operatorgrasps the crank and rotates the feed roll in direction of the arrow. The roll is given one complete rotation and as a' result the paper is fed to a position shown in full lines. of Figure l. During this operation, the arms 60 and BI move from their positions shown in Figure 3, the link acting to raise the timer stem. The position ofthe .arm 60 and the link at the upper limit of this raising movement is shown in dot-and-dash linesin Figure 3. At the end of this complete rotation of the feed roll l1, timing begins and at 'the end of the timeperiod the stops again assume the full line position of Figure 3. At the end of the feed-out operatiomthe user pulls the towel downwardly to the position shown'in dotand-dash lines in Figure 1, whereupon it is sev-- automatically gradually flexed in a direction 011-- posite to the direction of curl given it as a result see Figure 1, a roller 16, journaled on an arm 11 pivoted as at 18 to the plate l0. Spring I9 urges the arm and roll against the cam and the cam is provided with a projection 80 which is so arranged as to engage the roller and move the roller slightly against the action of the spring. The spring then reacts against this projection to rotate the feed roll in a direction opposite to that shown by the arrow in Figure 3, to the position shown in Figure 3 wherein the arm 60 is spaced from the slide BI and the latter is free from any frictional contact with the arm 60 so that it may travel downwardly under action of I the timer.

The supply roll 35 bridges and rests upon narrow friction-reducing strips, a pair 83 of which lie on the botom BI, and another pair 82 of which extend upwardly against the back wall l4 of the cabinet. It is noted that upward pull on that the curl of the paper resultant from its original roll formation is utilized to maintain a projected portion of the paper spaced from the cabinet to facilitate grasping. I 30 I claim as my invention:

1. The art of facilitating the grasping of paper after delivery into opposition to the outer face of an upright wall of a cabinet having a delivery opening and feeding means therein by which the paper is delivered through the opening, which feeding means, then applying to the paper substantially immediately after it leaves said feeding means a force only against that face of the paper which was inside when on the roll, to automatically gradually flex the paper. in a direction opposite to the direction of curl which has been given the paper as the result of roll formation, to formv and maintain a free arch between the feeding means and the delivery opening and so that said face which was inside when on the roll constitutes the convex face of saidfree arch, and then projecting the reversely flexed paper through the opening to a freely pendent position therebelow and in opposition to said upright face, and so that the surface that faced the supply roll faces the user.

2. The art of facilitating the grasping of paper after delivery from a supply roll, by feeding means, to and through an opening, and into op position to the outer face of an upright wall of a cabinet, which consists, in feeding the paper and while feeding it causing the leading free end of the paper to be so acted upon that the paper is of roll formation, and causing the paper to form a free arch which extends from the feeding means to the delivery opening and maintaining said arch by'force applied only against that surface of the paper which was inside when on the roll, and with the force applied at two points which substantially correspond to the bases of the arch, and while so maintaining the arched condition causing the leading end of the paper to project through the opening in opposition to the upright wall, and with that surface which faced the supply roll, facing the user.

3. A paper cabinet having a delivery opening and an upright wall therebelow, feeding means adjacent said delivery opening, a paper supply roll from which the paper leads to the feeding means, guiding means with which the free end of the paper engages and by which the paper sub-' stantially immediately after it leaves the feeding means and as it approaches the opening is automatically gradually flexedin a direction opposite to the direction of the curl which has been given the paper as a result of roll formation, said guid- I ing means acting to form and maintain a free arch which extends from said feeding means to said delivery opening and below said guidingmeans, and said guiding means acting only on that face of the paper which was inside when on the roll, and said paper being fed only. by said feeding means to lie freely pendently belowthe opening and in opposition to said upright wall, said guiding means also acting to cause that surface of the paper that faced the supply roll to face the user.

I 4. In a dispensing cabinet having a delivery opening and an upright wall therebelow, feeding means, a paper supply roll from which the paper leads to the feeding means, guiding means acting onthe free leading end of the paper substantially immediately after it leaves the feeding means and until it is delivered through the opening and adapted to automatically gradually flex the paper in a direction opposite to the directionof the curl given the paper as a result of roll formation and in a manner to form a free arch between the feeding means and opening, which is maintained by engagement of the paper with the guiding means at two spaced points which correspond substantially to the bases of the arch, said guiding means also serving to cause the paper to beprojected through the opening in pendent opposition to 

